All This Time, part 1 of 2

[sg_fignewton]

Title: All This Time
Author: Fig Newton (sg_fignewton)
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Word Count: ~12,000
Summary: Sam is trapped in an underground secret base with a damaged or dying teammate. This isn't what she planned for her first mission as leader of SG-1.
Warnings: Sam angst and Daniel whumping. Teal'c gets off relatively lightly.
Spoilers: Takes place during Zero Hour, with references to events in Season Six.
Disclaimer: None of them are mine. They all belong to their respective copyright holders.
Author's Note: Written for the sg_ep_ficathon for uniquinum, who wanted to know what Sam, Daniel, and Teal’c did while they were stuck in Anubis’ laboratory during Zero Hour. I suspect she wanted something light and humorous, but I'm afraid this is what wanted to be written.

randomfreshink has an uncanny talent for highlighting what needs to be polished and finding the plot twists buried in the story that even I didn't know were there. Thanks, Random, for being the best beta ever - even if you did encourage me to whump Daniel some more. :)

This story is divided into two sections due to LJ posting constraints, not preference. It is archived on a single page at Stargatefan.



***

All This Time

They weren't there, and then they were again, rematerializing as the rings snapped down into the floor. There was only time to absorb the quickest of first impressions - large, and bright, and hot, and multi-colored beams of light sweeping the room - before the first of those beams of light struck Teal'c as it moved in a narrow-arced diagonal from ceiling to floor.

He gave an audible grunt of pain, and his left hand reached involuntarily for the symbiote pouch that he longer possessed. Daniel was turning to him in alarm when a second beam swept across, this one moving perpendicular to the floor at knee level. It hit Daniel, whose head snapped back in a spasm of agony, mouth open to voice a cry that never got past his vocal cords. He collapsed on the floor without a sound.

Sam saw the next beam coming, this one moving in a wider arc than the one that had struck Teal'c, but there was no way to avoid it. It sliced upwards from floor to ceiling, and there was a fraction of a second to brace herself for the pain before it hit.

She heard herself scream as the force of it drove her to her knees: white fire that seared along her spine, her brain suddenly ringing with the echo of a thousand silenced voices. Sensation raced along every vein and capillary. Something was writhing in the back of her throat, driving towards her spinal cord and wresting control of self and soul and...

Jolinar, she thought dimly. The beam had evoked the memory - and memories - of Jolinar. It was reading her as Goa'uld, only not quite right. The beams of light continued to criss-cross the room, and several more struck her in passing, but the pain was slowly beginning to subside.

She forced her eyes open and raised her head to see how her teammates were faring. Teal'c seemed to have already recovered from whatever the beam had done to him - identified him as a Jaffa? - and was bent protectively over Daniel.

She could crawl, she discovered, and she scrambled forward on hands and knees, her own stabbing pains forgotten in her sudden terror. Because every beam of light that hit Daniel stayed there, and half a dozen were focused on him already. And Daniel shuddered on the floor, eyes wide and staring, mouth opening and closing in a futile attempt to draw breath.

She reached out with shaking hands to grab him by the arm, trying to pull him out of the way of those deadly beams. Teal'c abandoned his efforts to shield Daniel from additional attack - the beams, without any apology to the laws of physics, simply passed right through him - and added his own considerable strength to the task. Working together, ignoring the pain, they managed to move Daniel completely off the ring platform. But the lights only followed, and they were joined by still more. Nearly every beam in the room was focused squarely on Daniel now, and Sam felt her fear ratchet up another notch as she saw the first trickle of blood leaking out of his left ear.

She wrenched her gaze away from him and followed the deadly beams of light back to their source. There it was: a dull black pedestal in the middle of the large room, topped by a gray globe that was studded with dozens of crystalline growths. The light beams pulsed sickly out of the growths, and even as she reared onto her knees and brought her P-90 to her shoulder, she saw another crystal skim over the top of the globe to refocus its lethal attention on Daniel.

Just as her finger tightened on the trigger, a staff weapon blast exploded harmlessly six inches before it reached the globe. Force-shielded.  Sam flicked a glance sideways just in time to see a grim-faced Teal'c adjust his aim and fire again, aiming for the pedestal this time. The pedestal shattered and the gray globe tumbled to the floor in a shower of stone fragments, but the light beams remained solidly locked on Daniel.

Sam didn't waste time trying to see if bullets would penetrate the shield any better than the staff weapon could. She lurched to her feet and staggered forward, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain from the beams as they flickered around and through her. She reversed her grip on her weapon, raised it high over her head, and smashed it down on the globe with every ounce of strength she still possessed.

The globe crumbled like half-baked gravel. The beams of light winked out. The low-pitched whine they'd been hearing all along finally stopped.

Sam let out a great gasp of relief, then turned and stumbled back to the others. Teal'c had already removed Daniel's glasses and arranged his arms and legs in the recovery position. He was now stripping off his own jacket, folding it and placing it under Daniel's head. He glanced up at Sam as she dropped to her knees beside him.

"His pulse is erratic, as is his breathing," he reported somberly.

Sam nodded as her fingers rapidly assessed Daniel's condition. His eyes were closed now - she couldn't decide if that was a good sign or not - and his skin was alarmingly clammy. He was shocky, she knew, but they couldn't elevate his feet with a probable head injury. Blood still trickled sluggishly from his nose and ears, too bright against his white face. It might be an indication of swelling of the brain, or possibly intracranial bleeding. She peeled back first one eyelid, then the other. His pupils reacted too slowly for her liking, but at least they were even.

"Let's get him back to Earth," she said shortly. Two minutes of her leadership, and Daniel was half-dead...

She kept her eyes dry through sheer force of will, and focused on getting her friend and teammate to safety. Belatedly, she gave Teal'c a searching look. "Are you all right?" she asked. "What did the light beams do to you?"

"I have recovered, Colonel Carter." Teal'c grasped Daniel under the arms, and Sam positioned herself at his legs. Together, moving carefully and smoothly, they maneuvered him back onto the ring platform. "The beams seemed to probe me for a symbiote. I am unsure if the pain was because I no longer carry one, or if it is a routine effect of the probing for any Jaffa."

Sam blinked at the bland suggestion that the Jaffa would be expected to experience great pain as a matter of course. "I think it defined me as a Goa'uld," she said. "Jolinar. The naquadah in my bloodstream. And if that kind of pain was routine for anyone who passed the Goa'uld test, then Anubis must not have been expecting any friends to come by."

Teal'c cradled Daniel's head as he laid him gently back on the floor, now safely within the borders of the ring platform. "I very much doubt Anubis had many friends, Goa'uld or otherwise."

Sam huffed a laugh as she stuffed the jacket under Daniel's head again. "Yeah, that's probably..." Her voice trailed off. Something was niggling at the back of her mind, prompted by Teal'c's dry observation. No friends. Detecting Jaffa and Goa'uld...

She shook her head impatiently, dismissing the thought for the time being. She'd do an analysis of the whole debacle later. "Let's get out of here, Teal'c."

Teal'c shifted his grip on his staff weapon and pressed the crystal on the device to activate the rings.

Nothing happened.

"Well?" Sam said expectantly, looking up from her crouch at Daniel's side.

Teal'c frowned, examined the wrist device for damage, and tried again. The rings did not activate.

"Maybe there's a code you need to input," Sam said, feeling a little desperate. Her fingers scrabbled for Daniel's pulse again. Still erratic.

"There is no resource for entering a code. There is merely a single crystal to depress." Teal'c refrained from pressing the crystal a futile third time. "It is no longer operative, Colonel Carter."

Sam went for her radio. "Sierra Gulf Three, this is Sierra Gulf One Niner. Come in."

Nothing. Not even static.

"Sierra Gulf Three Leader, this is Sierra Gulf One Niner. Do you copy?"

Silence.

Sam met Teal'c's gaze. "Are you hearing me over your radio?" she asked quietly.

"I am," he confirmed. "The radios are not broken, Colonel Carter. But it would seem that this complex is shielded from outside communication."

She sat back on her heels, staring down at Daniel. "So we're stuck here, with one man down, and no way out."

"For the time being," Teal'c said firmly. "You will find a way."

Sam quirked a half-smile at him, grateful beyond words that he, at least, had faith in her leadership. "Yeah."

She circled Daniel's wrist with her fingers. Was his pulse stabilizing, just a little bit? She leaned forward a little. His breathing did seem steadier than before.

"Let's move him off the ring platform for now," she ordered. "Even if we're locked in, it doesn't mean others are locked out. Time to evaluate our options, I think."

Once they had Daniel settled as comfortably as possible against the wall, Sam considered what to do next. She and Teal'c were all right, but Daniel wasn't. They would have to watch him carefully. They needed to find out what was wrong with the ring platform - it seemed most likely that destroying the globe had somehow damaged the system, but they had to determine the exact cause and see if there was some way to repair it. Since they didn't know how long it would take, or even if it was possible to fix the rings, they would have to assess their supplies and ration them accordingly. Water, she knew, would quickly become the biggest problem. Daniel, in particular, would need fluids.

They were due to check in with SG-3 in... Sam glanced at her watch. Thirty minutes. SG-3 would realize that they were missing their check-in, and when they failed to respond, Reynolds would no doubt report back to the SGC. Then General O'Neill would pull out all the stops to find them and get them back home.

Except that she hadn't called Reynolds for backup when they found the rings' location on the surface, and Teal'c held the now-defunct device that was the only way to access the rings in the first place. Even if SG-3 and the S&R teams found the right spot, how would they be able to reach them?

She gritted her teeth, resolving not to waste time on second-guessing her decision to leave SG-3 at the Gate. It wouldn't have changed anything, anyway. It was up to Sam and Teal'c - and Daniel, when he recovered - to rescue themselves.

First things first. "All right," she said at last, reaching into the pocket of her vest that contained some very basic medical supplies. "Teal'c, I'm going to stay here with Daniel. Do a quick recon of this place and make sure we're alone. Be careful; we don't want to set off any more traps. Check in every five minutes, and immediately if you spot any sign of other people down here."

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement. He spared a single moment to look down at Daniel, then gripped his staff weapon a little more firmly before heading for the only exit from the chamber.

Sam watched him leave, then tore open the antiseptic cloths she'd fished out of her vest pocket. Gently, she wiped away the smears of blood from Daniel's face and neck. She was hugely relieved to see that the bleeding had stopped. The color hadn't returned to his face, but his pulse seemed to finally be settling back into a regular rhythm.

She opened a second pocket of her vest and pulled out the paper-thin emergency blanket. shaking out its silvery folds and tucking it around him. The place was hot enough, but she wanted to keep him as warm as possible.

"Hey, Daniel," she whispered, patting him gently on the cheek.

No response.

Sam moved her hand to his chest and left it there, trying to calm herself by the feel of the steady beating of his heart. She couldn't bear to think that she'd managed to nearly kill Daniel on her first mission as SG-1 leader.

Fifteen minutes passed in agonizing slowness. Teal'c reported at five-minute intervals, regular as clockwork. Sam kept her left hand on Daniel's chest and her right hand on her P-90; her eyes flicked back and forth like a metronome. Daniel. Rings. Door. Daniel. Rings. Door. Daniel. Rings...

"Colonel Carter," Teal'c's voice crackled from the radio. "Do you require my assistance?"

"Not at the moment, Teal'c, no. What's wrong?"

"I have completed my initial search. This complex is completely empty. If you can manage on your own, I wish to investigate certain matters further."

"Go ahead, Teal'c. And see if you can find water," she added as an afterthought.

"I have already done so. I am unsure of its potability, but we do have water purification tablets. Do you still require frequent check-ins, Colonel Carter?"

"Not if you're sure that we're safely alone down here, Teal'c. Let's make it every ten minutes."

"Very well. Teal'c out."

Teal'c's more intensive search took more than an hour, which gave Sam time to inventory their supplies. Between the three of them, they had three canteens of drinkable water, six MREs, and five power bars. Water purification tablets, antiseptic wipes, bandages, oral painkillers... She sighed. They'd gone through the Gate expecting a simple recon of a few hours' duration, although experience probably should have warned them that there really was no such thing.  If they couldn't figure out how to escape in the next few hours, they would need to ration their supplies very carefully.

She checked on Daniel again. His heartbeat was strong and sure now. She wouldn't breathe easily until he woke up and proved he was compos mentis, but she dared to allow herself the tremulous hope that he really was starting to recover.

The sudden sound of footsteps outside the chamber startled her, but Teal'c called out her name just before he entered the room so she wouldn't try to shoot him. Sam glanced up from her seat on the floor next to Daniel and asked the question with her eyes.

"Anubis," Teal'c observed, "was a strange mixture of old Goa'uld and half-Ancient. Many of the systems here are constructed of outdated Goa'uld technology that has been spliced together with Ancient technology."

Sam bit her lip, thinking of the conclusion she'd made while she waited for Teal'c to complete his investigations. "So what does that mean for us?"

Teal'c sank into a cross-legged position with his usual smooth grace.

"Everything in this complex is linked by an old Goa'uld power system of conduits leading to a single source of energy. When we destroyed Anubis' anti-intruder system, the surge to the crystals essentially shut down everything else that requires power."

"So, basically, we blew the fuses?"

"Indeed."

"And we need to find the fuse box?"

"I have done so." Teal'c nodded at the doorway. "The power source - or 'fuse box' - is easily accessible."

"The lights are still working," Sam said a little doubtfully. She glanced at the ceiling. Perhaps it was coated with some kind of substance that made it glow so brightly? Was that the source of the oppressive heat?

He inclined his head as he conceded the point. "The water systems are operative as well. Everything else, however, is now without power."

"Including air circulation?" Sam asked sharply.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I am unsure if air circulation in this complex requires power, or is due to natural causes. It seems likely that this was formerly a system of caves that Anubis enlarged for his own purposes. If power was required to circulate the air, then yes, that function is now defunct. Considering the size of this complex, however, I believe that it will not be a cause for concern for some time."

Sam subsided at this reassurance that they weren't going to suffocate in the next few hours. "So can we fix the central energy source?"

"I cannot," Teal'c admitted readily. "But I have faith that you can, Colonel Carter."

Sam took a deep breath, then looked down again at Daniel. In the last twenty minutes or so, his state of unconsciousness had lightened. He was no longer so frighteningly still. On the other hand, a few twitches of his fingers or head didn't offer any assurance that he'd escaped brain damage.

"The intruder system read you as Jaffa, Teal'c," she said softly. "It read me as Goa'uld. I think - I think it read Daniel as Ascended."

Teal'c stiffened.

"Anubis must have been terrified of the possibility that the Ancients might actually interfere," she went on. "The safeguards he set up against Ascended intrusion would have been exponentially harsher than anything else."

Teal'c's fingers skimmed Daniel's hair. "Do you believe that the attack was worse because Daniel Jackson is actually human?" he asked quietly.

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it again. Now was hardly the time to debate how much of Daniel's Ascension still lingered in his body and mind. "It might have been less damaging than it would have been if he really was Ascended," she pointed out. "There's no real way to tell."

"I see." Teal'c's eyes met hers across their fallen comrade, and she knew he'd also wrestled with those same questions. "Colonel Carter, I can keep watch over Daniel Jackson now. This complex is completely deserted and is relatively safe. As long as we are not invaded by hostile forces through the transport rings, you should be able to effect repairs without interruption."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "What aren't you telling me?" she demanded.

Teal'c only hesitated for a moment before acknowledging his evasion. "One of the rooms in this complex apparently housed experiments that were kept in stasis. I found evidence of disabled force shields, as well as freezer units that are now no longer operating. It is possible that these experiments and processes might pose a danger to us."

"Oh, boy." Sam scrubbed a tired hand across her face. "How about that weapons cache we're supposed to find here? Any sign of it?"

Teal'c gave her a cool gaze. "None. But I suspect that any weapons we find here will not be conventional, Colonel Carter."

Sam felt her lips twist in ironic agreement. "Okay, let's deal with what we can for now. Give me directions to the central power source. If I can get that up and running, most of our problems will be solved." She stood. "Report immediately if there's any change, all right?"

"I will," Teal'c promised. He gave her precise directions to the power core, then settled down at Daniel's side, his staff weapon laid aside for the more practical zat. Sam took a deep breath and headed out of the chamber to see what she could do.

She found the fuse box, as her brain kept calling it, and got to work. She'd been working for less than forty minutes, and had just finished stripping the insulation off the conduits near the central power source, when Teal'c's voice crackled over the radio.

"Colonel Carter. Daniel Jackson's movements have become more deliberate."

"I'm on my way," she said hurriedly. She spared her handiwork a critical glance,  then quickly retraced her steps to the ring room. Teal'c looked up as she arrived, his face lightening into one of those almost-smiles that said more than most people's biggest grins.

"He has not yet opened his eyes," Teal'c reported, "but he is responding to the sound of my voice."

Daniel's head turned restlessly in Teal'c's direction, his eyebrows rising. His heels scraped against the floor as he shifted one leg, then the other.

"Daniel?" Sam went down on one knee at his side. "Daniel, can you hear me?"

"Grmph."

Sam blinked at that one. "Daniel?" she tried again. She tapped her fingers on his cheek.

"Daniel Jackson. Open your eyes."

To Sam's delight, Daniel actually obeyed. His mouth turned down in a puzzled frown as his eyelids twitched open just enough to reveal slits of slightly unfocused blue.

"...Teal'c?"

"It's us, Daniel. Teal'c and Sam." His eyes slowly closed again, and she patted his cheek a little more firmly this time. "Stay with us, Daniel. Can you tell me your name?"

He blinked at her in heavy-lidded protest. "...ackson." The word floated out in a weary sigh. "...ly ei...."

"Daniel? Come on. Daniel?"

It was no use. He'd definitely drifted off.

Sam sat back on her heels and looked across Daniel's body at Teal'c. "Did you catch that last bit?"

Teal'c tilted his head, considering. "It is possible that he was trying to voice his birth date."

"Of course! 'July eighth.' Oh, I hope you're right about that." Because if Teal'c's surmise was correct, it meant that Daniel had retained his wits enough to anticipate the next question. She couldn't help but smile in relief. Maybe all Daniel needed was enough time to recover, and he'd be all right.

"Okay." Sam patted Daniel's cheek one last time, then stood. "Stick with him, Teal'c. If he wakes up again, try to get him to drink. Little sips. And keep an eye on those rings. We probably did manage to disable them completely, but that doesn't mean we can ignore the possibility of unexpected visitors."

Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgment.

"I've gotten the conduits freed of the protective insulation," she continued. "I'm going to see how badly they got fried. And I might be able to call up some schematics - it looks like the energy core does maintain some kind of memory, even in shut-down. Keep in touch by radio. I'll let you know if I get anywhere."

She went back to her interrupted task with a lighter step. Daniel was getting better. They would remove the damaged conduits and reboot the system. Things were definitely looking up.

But half an hour later, Sam was swearing furiously under her breath as she scrolled through the schematics. All that painstaking work in removing the worst of the damaged crystals, and for what? As things stood, there wasn't a single thing she dared even try.

She needed Daniel for this. And that necessity was so incredibly unfair that it made her want to throw her tools across the room. He was hurt. She wanted to be able to let him sleep off the effects of the light beams. And now she was going to have to chivvy him back to work as soon as possible, because it looked like that was the only way they were ever going to get out of here.

What kind of leader exploits her team instead of helping them?

Sam slammed an open palm against the wall, then forced herself back under control. Screaming wouldn't help, even if cursing seemed rather therapeutic. Time to take charge and determine what to do next.

She keyed on her radio. "Teal'c? How's Daniel doing?"

"He is sleeping at the moment, Colonel Carter. He awakened once, ten minutes ago, and asked for O'Neill. He seemed surprised when I reminded him that O'Neill is no longer part of SG-1."

Sam chewed on her upper lip. "Short-term memory can be a little messed up after a head injury, Teal'c. We'll see how he's doing when he wakes up properly. You say he's asleep again?"

"Indeed. He did speak coherently while he was awake, however."

"That's a good sign. Did he drink anything?"

"A few sips. Nothing more."

"Did you ask him how he felt?"

"He does not remember the attack at all; as you say, his short-term memory does seem somewhat impaired. He did compare his current state to the effects of a ribbon device, although he implied that it was much more intense than what he has experienced in the past."

Sam winced on Daniel's behalf. "I don't ever remember seeing him bleed from the nose or ears after being ribboned."

There was a pause before Teal'c's voice came again, carefully steady. "I have witnessed such symptoms, Colonel Carter."

Sam closed her eyes momentarily. "I'm sorry, Teal'c," she said softly.

"As am I."

"But Daniel is going to recover completely." She put all the confidence she didn't feel into her voice. "Keep him talking when he wakes up again, and try to get him to drink as often as possible."

"I will endeavor to do so, Colonel Carter. May I ask how your repairs are proceeding?"

"Not so great, actually." Sam glanced back at the power readings she'd called up, and then resolutely turned away. "Teal'c, we've got a bit of a problem. I was able to isolate some of the damaged crystals and remove them from the system. The problem is that I need to read the schematics to determine which conduits are for the rings, and... well. They're in Ancient."

A long moment of silence, then, "That is most unfortunate, Colonel Carter."

"Yeah." Sam felt her lips twitch into a reluctant smile at Teal'c's dry understatement. "So we're going to have to hope that Daniel's up to doing some translation when he wakes. In the meantime, I'm going to do a recon of my own. I want to check out the water supply and those experiments you told me about."

"I will remain here with Daniel Jackson."

"Thank you, Teal'c," Sam said, and signed off.

So, Daniel thought his symptoms were similar to that of a ribboning. She thought back to Daniel's previous experiences with the ribbon device. He'd recovered in the field, without medical treatment, when Klorel tried to kill him; in Egypt, he'd managed to hold himself together for nearly three hours, until they had Stephen Raynor safely hospitalized, before he'd collapsed. Of course, the time with Amaunet, he'd nearly...

She cut that thought off. Bottom line: she'd be a lot happier with access to an IV and EEG right now, but she probably didn't need to worry about Daniel dying in the next half hour. Time to concentrate on learning as much as she could about their temporary prison, so they could escape as soon as possible and get him medical attention.

She explored the halls of the complex, methodically ticking off corridor after corridor as she went. The place was bigger than she'd expected; she counted six different hallways and over twenty rooms of varying sizes. She could see, from the irregular shape of some of the halls and chambers, why Teal'c suspected that it had originally been a series of caves. There was no way to tell what Anubis had been doing down here. Every room was empty and echoing, with one exception.

The water supply was located in the only active laboratory, spilling steadily from an opening in the wall to flow through a stone trough and empty into a grill on the floor. She removed testing strips from her vest and checked the purity of the water. Not too bad, she decided, but it would be wise to use their water purification tablets just to make sure.

She crossed to the other side of the laboratory, stopping a good two meters away from the array of sealed containers, samples, and the Goa'uld equivalent of refrigeration units. She now understood Teal'c's unease regarding disrupted force shields and unpowered freezers. It seemed pretty clear that something was being grown there. Knowing Anubis, it could be anything from a new kind of Kull warrior to a deadly bio-weapon. The sooner they got the power back, the better.

The walls in the laboratory, like many of the other rooms, were covered with blank, dark screens. Sam recognized them as the Goa'uld equivalent of computer systems, no doubt modified with Ancient upgrades. If Daniel could help her puzzle out the schematics and get the power running again, she might be able to figure out exactly what Anubis was doing.

It all hinged on Daniel, though. And he was still down for the count.

"Time to pack it in, then," she said aloud to the specimens in their crystal jars and freezer drawers. "We'll get back to you as soon as we can."

Her canteen was nearly empty, so she took a moment to drain it dry before refilling it at the trough. She added a purification tablet, secured the canteen to her belt, and retraced her steps to the ring room to join the others.

Sam's heart leapt at the soft sound of voices that drifted out of the room at her approach. Daniel was not only awake, but talking! She hurried inside.

Teal'c had an open palm flat against Daniel's chest, apparently to keep him from rising. "It would not be wise for you to move at this time," he said calmly.

"Have to find Jack," Daniel said, his tone just this shade of petulant.

"O'Neill is not here, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel blinked at him. "Why?"

"O'Neill is back at the SGC."

"Daniel." Sam shrugged away the worry about his spotty memory and knelt down at his side. "Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

Daniel struggled to sit, but Teal'c kept him flat with little effort. "I'd feel a lot better if Teal'c would let me get up," he grumped. "What's going on?"

"Quite a lot," Sam conceded, smiling. "Could you answer some questions for me, before I start answering yours?"

Daniel twisted his head to look at her and snorted with impatience. "You're not serious."

"We are indeed, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c assured him. "Please humor us."

Daniel let his head thump back onto the floor. "Daniel Jackson," he recited. "July eighth. Archeologist, SG-1. And we're..." He hesitated. "Where are we, exactly?"

"What's the last thing you remember, Daniel?"

Daniel tried to shove Teal'c's hand off his chest, but he might as well have tried to shift Cheyenne Mountain. "Can't I sit up?"

"Are you dizzy?" Sam asked.

"How  should I know, lying like this?"

"I'll trade you," Sam offered. "Tell me what you last remember, and promise me you'll try to drink, and we'll let you try sitting up."

Daniel glared at her. "You're patronizing me, Sam."

"So I am," Sam said, unapologetic. "Do we have a deal?"

"Stop her from patronizing me, Teal'c," Daniel complained.

Teal'c cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Fine! Be that way!" Daniel shoved at Teal'c's hand again. "I was - we were gearing up. To go off-world." A note of uncertainty crept into his voice. "We - without Jack?"

"The general is back on Earth, Daniel," Sam reminded him gently.

"Hammond?"

"O'Neill serves as commanding officer of the SGC now," Teal'c said. "He was promoted to general."

"I - I knew that. Didn't I?"

"You had your brains scrambled a little, Daniel," Sam said, rubbing his arm soothingly now. "It's all right for you to be a little confused."

"But Jack needs you both," Daniel insisted, trying to sit up again. "They won't let me help him. And it's stealing his soul."

Sam's fingers froze in mid-rub. She met Teal'c's gaze with widened eyes. Was this just residual confusion, or something more?

"You should drink, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c interposed smoothly. He lifted his hand from Daniel's chest, allowing him to rise. Daniel only got as far as forty-five degrees before the color drained from his face.

"Take it easy, Daniel," Sam said hurriedly. She unscrewed the lid from her own canteen. "Here, this water is safe to drink. Take small sips."

He stared at her, his pupils absurdly dilated. "Don't let Nirrti hurt you, Sam."

"I - what? Nirrti's long gone, Daniel. Drink."

He sipped obediently, then stopped and frowned at Teal'c. "You're all right?" he demanded.

Teal'c tilted his head. "Why should I not be?"

"And Bra'tac?"

Teal'c paused, then took the canteen from Daniel's shaking hands. "Daniel Jackson," he said firmly, "O'Neill is safely back at the SGC. Colonel Carter survived Nirrti's DNA machine. Master Bra'tac and I are now without symbiotes. Your memories are confused with your time as an Ascended being, but rest assured that you are here with us and that all will be well."

Sam's mouth closed with a snap.

Daniel stared at Teal'c for a long moment before he nodded, very carefully. "Okay," he whispered. His forehead wrinkled, as if he were trying to fit the pieces of a puzzle together.

"Rest now," Teal'c said, his voice a velvet purr as he eased Daniel back to the floor. "We will speak further when you awaken."

"I don't - I wanted..." Daniel's eyes closed of their own volition. "...ma," he added indistinctly, and fell asleep.

"Oma?" Sam mouthed incredulously to Teal'c. He met her stare and gave a fractional nod. Oh, this wasn't good.

***

Sam and Teal'c traded off watches for the rest of the day and into the night. They woke Daniel every few hours - partly to make sure they could, and partly to get him to keep drinking. He was sleepy and uninterested in talking, except to complain of his persistent headache. Sam, afraid to give him more than Tylenol, was glad that he didn't seem to expect anything stronger.

By one o'clock in the morning, fourteen hours after they'd first beamed down to the complex, Daniel seemed more or less recovered. He still grumbled about the jackhammer that had taken up residence in his brain, but when Teal'c questioned him more closely, he maintained that it was no worse than the regular post-ribboning effect that he'd unfortunately managed to perfect over the years. He did not seem to recall his confused memories of the previous day.

Sam wasn't sure whether she was concerned or relieved by this. While she'd been oddly consoled by the offhand confirmation that Daniel had, in fact, been watching her during his year of Ascension, it wasn't a topic that she felt comfortable discussing with him in any detail. Best to leave things as they stand, she decided.

As he still couldn't remember anything from their time on the planet, she and Teal'c explained the situation to him: they'd ringed down to Anubis' secret base and been attacked by his anti-intruder system. They'd essentially blown all the fuses, they were stuck without power until they fixed the fuse box, and the directions were all in Ancient.

"So, lights but no heat?" Daniel asked, squinting up at the brightly glowing ceiling.

Sam and Teal'c exchanged glances of surprise. Neither had noticed the gradually cooling temperature, but Daniel was right: the place had been uncomfortably warm when they first ringed down, but now it was definitely chilly.

"We have no idea how deep this complex really is," Sam said thoughtfully. "I doubt the temperature will drop to dangerous levels, though."

"Still, it sounds like we should get the power up and running as soon as possible," Daniel pointed out, his voice brisk. "So! Where's this fuse box?"

"The power source is two corridors away, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "Are you able to walk?"

"I don't see why not." Daniel struggled to rise.

"I see plenty why not," Sam snapped. She sat him back down rather forcefully. "Daniel, you've been in and out for the last fourteen hours. Eat something before you go running off to translate, okay?"

Daniel only glared at her, which told Sam that he probably was a lot weaker than he wanted to admit. His expression was mutinous as he watched her heat one of the MREs, but he didn't suggest getting up again.

She handed him the beef stew and patted him on the shoulder. "We're counting on you here, Daniel," she said softly. "So do us a favor and take it easy, all right? Teal'c and I need you operating at one hundred percent, not collapsing on us. We'll all be happy to get out of here, but a few more hours for you to recuperate won't hurt."

He gave her a rueful smile. "I get the point."

She rubbed his shoulder again. "Thank you."

Sure enough, he hadn't quite finished eating before he nodded off , his fork slipping out of his lax fingers. Teal'c eased him back to the floor and covered him with the blanket, then rose to join Sam on the other side of the room.

"We'll let him sleep now," Sam said quietly.

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement. "Perhaps Daniel Jackson will be capable of work in the morning."

"Let's hope so." Because those samples in the laboratory were probably on some kind of schedule, and Sam really didn't want to be around to find out.

Continued in Part 2.